Wednesday, July 25, 2012

SummerLand

We are not overly attentive gardeners. So I am especially thankful for the week+ long downpour that draped the South recently, particularly as our days are right back up in the high 90s now. Vegetables don't adore the high 90s (nor do I). Walking to the garden (our first vegetable garden) every few nights to see what we might snatch for dinner gives me so much pleasure and feels so entirely like how it is suppose to be. It being life. I don't offer that as a social comment as much as I do a personal one. One of the loveliest childhood memories I have is standing in the garden with my sister and my father, picking and eating vegetables. He, with a salt shaker in hand, would take the first bite of a cucumber for us, so that the next (inner fleshy) bite could soak up a sprinkling of salt. I can smell it. My little gardens for now are small, raised, and just precisely what we can manage. I hope that one day, they will be larger, something that we can stand in and amongst. With a salt shaker. How it is suppose to be.

Dinner. I made a pesto sauce for a homemade pizza crust, topped it with mozzarella and sliced tomatoes. I thinly sliced a few zucchinis and layered them onto a hot pan, thinly coated with my dad's olive oil, flipped a few times until a little crispy, then sprinkled with salt. And lemon. It was lovely with the pizza. The eggplant, was just sliced and brushed with oil, sprinkled with salt and dried out in a cooling (from the pizza) oven. It's stored in the fridge now waiting to become part of a pasta dish for tonight. Or maybe moussaka for tomorrow night.

Hello little dinner guest. Growing, beautiful, sweet, schmumkins of a puppy. The walk to the garden is a very nice opportunity for this one to practice not biting my ankles and not jumping on and scratching my legs. Though he practices not doing those things and doing those things with equal enthusiasm.

20 comments:

Garden goodness.Love it!I share your enthusiasm, for the pleasure of findingsomething good in our own backyards.It's good to keep it manageable,so no matter the size, the joy andappreciation are there. Look at your gorgeous harvest!

oh how nice to have a vegetable garden! my yard is too small for one, but hope to move to a house with a bigger yard to plant flowers and veggies and have a dog!Thanks so much for sharing your life ~ always enjoy your posts.

Oh, that's something I miss, having my own vegetable garden. To liitle space in our little patio, though I can try in some pots. I only have some herbs.I just came back from a holiday in Italy, the zucchinis, eggplants and tomatoes taste so much better than here! (p.s. eagerly waiting for your new designs!)

Yea for gardens!! I'm a gal born and raised in the South, but transplanted (willingly) to the Pacific Northwest, and my favorite part of gardening is that I can grow (and eat) okra!!! It's impossible to find out here, even at farmer's markets.

When I was growing up, we used to sneak out to the garden with a salt shaker... thinking we were so sneaky and clever that we got a "snack" before dinner... I now realize my mom was probably on to us. :)

My daddy kept a big garden and it was wonderful going out and picking the vegetables you would eat that day. I have lots of tomatoes this year and I'm loving picking and eating them and thinking of my daddy.

I was late this year for a garden but next year, look out! Of course have to keep it from the deer. Your vegetables look amazing! I'm on the hunt for your flannel. I hope you plan to design more. I love them. Trying to find some for a baby boy.

I love everything you write about Anna Marie! Fabric. Needlework. Traveling and places you visit. People you meet. Your children and your family. Greece. Your dog. Your garden. Cooking and baking. Random, crazy, real-life things! You name it! I LOVE your blog! Keep it up. You are awesome and I want to meet you some day! I hope you come to San Diego, CA. some time! I missed you at the LA Modern Quilt Guild!

I saved this post to read again because the vegetables sounded so yummy. And I don't usually like vegetables. :) I love hearing about your cooking because it reminds of the things I ate when I lived in Greece. You rock!

Hi! I have been reading your blog for a few months and I love hearing about how Cash is doing. We have been putting off getting a puppy because our current dog is 16 years old (Aussie and Golden Retriever mix) and I figured she would not appreciate a pup around at all! However, your story gave me hope that our sweet Emma might find some joy in having a little friend around the house. We are planning to get a puppy soon. Do you have any tips about how you introduced your pup to Leo? ~Anna

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